Last week I had the opportunity to share with the OWU Board of Trustees some of the ways I’m using technology to enhance my teaching. I shared about my experiences trying to ‘flip’ my intro cell biology class last semester. Below is a rough outline of my 10-min talk, and here are my slides, which should be viewable in any modern browser1.watch full Louis C.K. 2017 2017 movie online
Trying a Flip
What’s the idea?
- expose students to concepts through self-guided study prior to class
- spend class time helping students apply concepts to solve problems
- technology is an enabler for this kind of teaching
Why flip?
- better use of class time than lecture
- encourages students to build more critical thinking, application skills
- critical thinking and problem-solving skills are a major point of emphasis in recent reports on the state of improving undergraduate science education
- research evidence that it’s better for learning than lecture
How did I do it?
- switched to new, more modular, online textbook, required reading in advance
- created in-class experiences allowing students to apply concepts
- created website that provided scaffolding for students
- student groups kept an online notebook, shared with me, for feedback and input
- used online clicker questions through polleverywhere.com to register student understanding
How did it go?
- classroom space design was a real inhibitor to exploration and discussion
- holding classes like this in a space designed for active learning would be amazing
- students are very reliant on lecture for information transmission
- designing in-class experiences is difficult, time-consuming
Gravitropic 
This was a great presentation – I hope it sparks ideas across campus as we better promote the flipped classroom!
This is really interesting! I am just barely starting to integrate active learning into my small lecture class (I’m a dinosaur) but I can see myself moving in this direction over time. Thank you for your post!
Brian- thanks for your support, I’m looking forward to continuing the conversation.
Liz- glad you found it useful. It’s a fun way to teach, and I think the real trick is finding the balance between presenting and highlighting information, and allowing the students to interact with it and apply it on the other. That proportion is going to vary from person to person and topic to topic, I think.